Rosemary for a Forgotten Tomorrow: After Story
by Liza Taylor
Summary: The wish has been granted, now Archer can spend the rest of his life with the girl he vowed to protect at all cost. However there is always more to tell. Many more stories to be shared. The story is never truly over, in fact, this is only the beginning. (Female MCXArcher) Mostly a one-shot series.
1. Summer Festival

**I know a lot of people are probably like, "Wha?! What is this!? I thought the story was over!" It is! Well, the main plot is. The thing is that I had a ton of material planned out for cute scenarios and interactions between Archer and Hikaru along with some stuff planned for various other characters that just did not make it into the story due to the short time span that the story took place in (including a plotline involving Shirou…).**

**So instead of letting it all go to waste, I decided to just write it all out and put it all into its own separate story-thing! Most of them will be one-shots (I will try to keep them chronological) but there will be some multi-chapter ones in here as well. Mostly fluff, because hey, why not? XD There will be some more serious chapters too thrown in. My update speed won't also be the speed demon it was for the main story since I am going back to school in a week. Thankfully since they are mostly self-contained it shouldn't be too horrible waiting for the next chapter release…**

**And for people that are wondering, yes, the GilgameshXHeroine story is in the works. It'll probably be a while before I get it written out though.  
**

* * *

"I can't take it anymore!"

Hikaru flung her notebook into the air along with the various loose sheets that was spread out on her desk. She would have thrown the textbook up in the air too but it was heavy and with her luck it would land on her head.

This was hard! So hard! She rested her head on her desk. "Why!?" she cried. "This stuff is so hard!" She stared at the gray command seals that adorned the back of her left hand. "Stupid Grail War," she murmured. The Grail War had cost her two weeks of school, plus another two months when she was in a coma after she had purified the dang thing. Due to that, she was ridiculously behind in school to the point that it would probably be easier to just take the rest of the year off and try her second year again next year. Unfortunately, Aunt Nomi did not get that memo as she pulled some strings to keep Hikaru in the same grade by using a story that she was being home schooled for a semester and would return to classes in the fall if she got a good grade on her exams.

Hikaru was surprised when the school actually accepted that condition although it was probably because Aunt Nomi had dropped the fact that she had connections to the Harwey family. Since Leo had paid for Hikaru's medical expenses, Aunt Nomi thought that meant that they could call on the Harwey family for help whenever she wanted. Hikaru highly doubted that the Harweys would care about Hikaru's education but the threat worked so here she was trying to learn and cram all of the information she had missed out on for the past two months so she would be able to attend school again at the start of the second semester.

"Stupid school, stupid Aunt Nomi, stupid Grail War! I wish none of it happened!"

"You don't mean that do you?"

She jumped slightly and twisted around in her chair. "Oh, hi Archer," she squeaked.

He stood in the doorway with a tray holding cookies and a glass of milk. "I brought you food because I thought you were working hard but it seems like I was wrong."

"I was working!" she said quickly before he could walk away with those cookies. They were obviously freshly baked and still warm. "I'm just tired." She got up and began picking up the papers and notebooks that she had tossed. Archer set the tray down on the dresser before he got down on the floor to help her.

"Why do I need to bother with this anyway?" she grumbled. "I lost _two_ months! How am I supposed to teach myself that much material in a span of a couple of weeks!?" She hated to admit it but studying was not one of her fortes. Studying for exams was torture normally; this was insane, cruel and inhumane.

She froze in mid-rant when she noticed the look on Archer's face. "Oh but I don't regret doing what I did!" she said quickly. "Yes, I may have lost two months but that was because of how reckless I was!" She grasped his hands in her own. "I don't regret it one bit." She smiled up at him.

She knew Archer felt guilty for making her lose two months because of him. It wasn't his fault at all though! It was her own, hers and the Moon Cell version of her. Both of them had been reckless to grant the wish. He was just the recipient of the wish! A bystander to her stupidity! "Are you done for the day?" she asked as she got to her feet and set the stack of papers and notebook back on the desk.

Archer had taken up to working odd jobs here and there to help Nomi out plus he said he didn't really know what to do with himself since the job he had when he was alive was not something he wanted to get into again. It kept him busy which was good but he wasn't in the house much and Hikaru missed having him around all the time. _It's different now though_, she reminded herself. They were no longer Master and Servant. He was her…her...boyfriend.

She could feel her face heating up at that thought. Although it had been over two months for him, for her it was less than two weeks (she had been discharged from the hospital early due to her healing ability) and it was still weird for her to think about. Plus it wasn't like they had been doing anything remotely "romantic" since her release. He had been busy with work and taking care of the house and she had been focused on trying to memorize everything and catch up on what she had missed.

Perhaps that was why she didn't feel awkward that he was living under the same roof as her. He had suggested moving out but Aunt Nomi had none of it. She forced him to stay as a condition of giving him identification and a false birth certificate (Nomi's connections at work again). What surprised her was that instead of taking on the name he had when he was alive he decided to just stick with Archer and tack on Emiya as his last name with his reasoning being that he didn't want to be confused with another Shirou. Whatever that meant.

"You're thinking weird thoughts again."

"Gah!" Hikaru covered her forehead and puffed out her cheeks. "Can we get past the whole flick-forehead thing!?"

He chuckled. "I'm sorry. How about a cookie to make you feel better?" He plucked a cookie off of the plate and held it out flat in his hand like one would feed a horse.

She pouted but took the cookie from him and took a huge bite. Oh yes. That was the stuff. It was so gooey and soft and just perfect.

"I think I'm forgiven?"

She nodded. "Yes you are. You didn't answer my question before though."

"I need to work in about an hour."

Hikaru frowned. "But…today is the summer festival…"

"Don't worry. I made sure I would be done by tonight. I'll meet you at the festival okay?" He grasped her hands. "Please don't look at me like that. Tonight will be great."

Hikaru frown of disappointment lifted slightly. "Yeah. I'll see you tonight." Yeah. He was right. The summer festival tonight would be great. She looked down at the ground. "Also. I just thought of something." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Technically, tonight is going to be our first real..." She swallowed. Could she say it? Actually say it? "d…d…date."

He was silent. Ack! Didn't he see it the same way? She glanced up at him and saw he was gazing down at her. She could feel her face turning red at his intense look so she turned her eyes to the ground. "W…what's that look for!?"

"Nothing," he replied. "You're meeting up with Rin before the festival right?"

"Yeah. We're going to be putting on yukatas together." Hikaru had been surprised when Rin had said she was going to stay in Japan for a while longer. Something about how she needed to take care of an idiot. Hikaru did not get it but Archer had agreed with Rin.

He put his fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head up and kissed her on the forehead before he released her and headed for the door. "I'll see you tonight," he said before he left.

"Yeah," she replied with a smile. She touched the spot on her forehead where he had kissed. "He hasn't kissed me on the lips since…"she murmured. What did that mean? No way. Did that mean he did not like her anymore like that!? No. She was just overthinking this. There was probably a perfectly good reason why and he would tell her when the time was right. Or he would give a reason why he didn't like her like that anymore. Ack! What if Aunt Nomi was forcing him to stay here due to what Hikaru did for him and he was only pretending to be nice!?

Okay. Now she really needed to stop. She turned to textbooks and notebooks on her desk. "Well, I can try to cram a little more before tonight!"

* * *

"Ack! Can you not trip over your own feet!?"

Rin grabbed Hikaru's arm to steady her before her friend could face plant into the asphalt. "Uh thanks Rin." Hikaru's face was burning as she straightened out and adjusted her yukata.

"Honestly what are we going to do with you?" Rin laughed. She wore a red yukata was accented with a black sash.

Hikaru puffed out her cheeks. "Nothing," she huffed. "Nothing at all." She rocked back and forth in her black geta sandals as she craned her neck to look at the crowd of people streaming through the huge tori gates to enter the festival grounds.

"He said he would be here soon right?" asked Rin. She crossed her arms. "Rude of him to keep you waiting Hikaru."

She shook her head. "He's been busy. I'm sure he would have gotten off early if he could." OShe instinctively went to twirl a lock of hair around a finger but didn't find any as she had put her hair up in a bun that was held with a long blue flower pin.

"Honestly, he's getting his first real date and this is how he views it?" Rin shook her head.

"R..Rin!" Hikaru protested. Rin was grinning at Hikaru's red face.

"Anyway. You want to go have some fun? Archer has a phone now right? He can contact you on where to meet later."

"Yeah." That was one of the first presents Nomi had given him along with his identification. "But I think I'll wait here for him. Why don't you go have fun Rin? I feel bad for making you wait on me." Rin was about to protest but Hikaru eyes lit up slightly when she spotted Rani in the crowd. She waved and the homunculus spotted the two girls and walked over.

"Hello Rin-san, Hikaru-san," she said, bowing slightly. Her yukata was light purple with a gold sash. Like Rin, Rani had also stayed in Japan although for a completely different reason. Apparently, since the Einzbern had no use for her, her "professor" had told her to stay in Japan and learn about the world and culture. According to Rin, Rani had transferred into the school as well and Rin had ended up helping the girl out on the first day and a weird friendship had blossomed out of it. Hikaru had met her a couple of times over the past couple of weeks and she had taken Rani under her wing as well. Hikaru was surprised to find out that Rani was actually pretty kind albeit a bit clueless about the world. Not having to fight each other for a cup changed a lot.

"I came to enjoy the festival as it seems to be an event that many Japanese go to to enjoy but I am not sure how one is to have fun at this sort of event."

"Oh boy." Rin face-palmed.

Hikaru had to agree with Rin's sentiments. "Why don't you go with her Rin?" suggested Hikaru. "You can help Rani learn how to have fun. I'm going to stay here and wait a little longer for Archer."

"Are you sure?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah. It's fine. Give Rani a good time. I'll just be slowing you down and stuff by checking my phone all the time."

Rani tilted her head to the side slightly as her lavender eyes looked back and forth between Hikaru and Rin in confusion. "I do not understand why Hikaru-san is waiting. Wouldn't it be fun if all three of us were together? Why is she waiting?"

"She just wants this summer festival to be a special date with her boyfriend." Rin's expression betrayed her amusement.

"I do not understand."

Rin shrugged and put her hands on Rani's shoulders and pushed her towards the festival stalls. "I'll tell you when you are older Rani." Before Rani could begin to argue against the claim that she was old enough, Rin began pushing Rani harder towards the stalls. "We'll see you later Hikaru. Have fun on your date!"

Hikaru waved goodbye to Rin and Rani before she leaned against one of the pillars. She checked her phone. Five minutes. She could wait five more minutes. She smiled to herself. This reminded her the time she had waited for him outside the supermarket during the War. That was such a long time ago. "At least nothing bad will happen this time," she murmured to herself. She looked up and scanned the crowd for Archer's white hair. Nothing.

She checked her phone again. Another five minutes. She could give him another five minutes. She sighed and adjusted her yukata. Maybe she should not have worn this one. It was white dotted with pink and blue flowers with a dark blue sash. "Maybe I should have went with something that was one color only." Maybe that pin in her hair was too much? Yeah. It was probably too much. She reached up to pull it out when she heard her name.

She looked up in surprise as Archer hurried over to her. "You're late!" she scolded but the grin on her face said otherwise. "Hmm? Archer?" He was staring at her wide eyed. "Uh, you don't like it?" She knew she should have gone with the solid blue one instead of letting Rin talk her into getting this one!

"Uh no, I like it," he stammered. "It looks good on you." He looked away sheepishly. "You look…cute."

Cute!? No way. Did he really just call her...cute!? Her eyes locked onto the ground. She knew her face was on fire. "Oh...uh…thanks." Calm down Hikaru. This was nothing! It was just a compliment! She lifted her head once she knew her face was not a tomato anymore.

"Sorry for being late. I got held up." From the look on his face, Hikaru knew he was not lying about being held up.

"But you're here now." She checked her phone for the time. "And we have some time before the fireworks show. There are a couple of stalls I want to check out."

"You actually want to _play_ some of those childish games. You do know most are rigged right?"

Hikaru puffed her cheeks. "I'll have you know I am a beast at goldfish scooping! It requires skill!"

Archer rolled his eyes but he was smiling at the same time. He held out a hand. "Shall we then? We can play some of these silly games."

"Great! There's usually a huge giraffe in one of the booths. It has eluded me for years but with you by my side I know I can win it!"

"How many stuffed animals are you planning on getting tonight?"

"All of them!"

* * *

"Hikaru this is-"

"Shhh!" Hikaru lifted a hand to silence him. Her eyes were narrowed, focused on the task at hand. Her left hand clutched the paper net tightly while the right held a bowl. Her eyes darted back and forth as she watched the goldfish swim back and forth lazily in the box.

Archer shifted slightly and Hikaru glared at him. He held up both of his hands in a gesture of apology. She turned her attention back to the goldfish. After a couple of seconds of watching the goldfish swim around, she struck with a battle cry.

"YA! YA! YA! YA!" Every single time she cried out she scooped a goldfish into a bowl. She got ten the bowl before the paper net broke. She grinned like she won the lottery.

"That's a new record," laughed the attendant.

"My skills have gotten stronger!" Hikaru handed the bowl of goldfish back to him. "And here you go! Thanks again!"

"No problem," said the attendant as he put the fish she had caught back into the box.

"I'm surprised," said Archer. He picked up the bag filled with various small trinkets he had won for her along with the huge stuffed giraffe. She had thrown him at every single game booth she laid eyes on and he won something at every single one of them. Even though he no longer had the abilities of a Servant he had the skills he had in life so winning all of the games had been child's play for him, even if most were rigged.

"Surprised about what?" she asked. She pulled her phone out of her the small blue pouch that hung from her wrist. "Ack! It's almost time for the fireworks show. We need to get to my super-secret spot so we can see it and not worry about people getting in our way."

"I'm surprised that you wasted your time perfecting a skill such as goldfish scooping instead of something more productive."

She glared back at him unamused. "I'll have you know that it took me a couple of tries to perfect the ability to even get one." A small smile. "Aunt Nomi used to take me. She laughed at me when I tried the first time. I didn't even get one. I spent all of the money Aunt Nomi gave me trying to catch one. Took me two years but I did it!" She grinned to herself. "Aunt Nomi was so impressed about that." She shrugged. "Sadly she never got to see my real skills though. She never came to a festival with me after that."

"Did you go to the festivals alone?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I usually saw a couple of classmates and I hung out with them for a little bit and stuff but I came alone."

Archer stopped walking and stared at her back. "That's…"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Really. I'm fine Archer! Now come on. We need to hurry and get up there before the fireworks begin!"

He began following her again. That was just…sad. He had noticed that she didn't seem to have any close friends besides Rin. He still wondered sometimes how that was possible with her personality. She should just attract people to her.

"Hang on," he said as she veered to the left, away from the direction that the crowd was traveling to a line of trees that went uphill.

"Oh come on Archer. Let's not make this a pity party about me! We have a fireworks show to watch! We need to get up this hill!" She pointed in the direction they needed to travel. It looked to be the most shady place possible, with trees that cast long shadows and the only light came from the moon overhead.

Archer shook his head and gestured to her feet. "You're limping slightly."

She looked down at her geta sandals. The area between her big and second toe was red. "Oh yeah. I'm not used to wearing these. I'll be fine though."

He sighed. Why did girls feel the need to wear uncomfortable shoes?

"I don't like that look!" She backed up a step. "You are not going to carry me!"

Why did she have such a hatred of him carrying her? It wasn't like he was going to jump through the trees or anything crazy like that. He was just thinking about carrying her up the hill. That's all "Listen," he said. "At the rate you are going, we're never going to make it there before the fireworks end. Plus how do you expect to walk uphill on rough terrain in those shoes? Plus you can barely see where you are going. You are going to most likely trip on the way up!""

She bit her lip as she looked down at her feet. "Well I usually don't wear a yukata when I go to the festival," she mumbled. "So I'm in sneakers..."

Archer's eyes widen. She didn't usually wear a yukata? So, she had ended up getting dressed up for him tonight? He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Well then. He walked over to her side. She jumped back slightly and stared at him in distrust. He rolled his eyes and kneeled with his back to her. "Get on," he murmured.

She stared at his back dumbstruck. "Wait…what?"

"Well, you don't seem to be wanted to be carried bridal style so piggyback? You do want to see fireworks right? You are going to need to carry that giant giraffe of yours though."

"Oh. Well umm, okay," she relented.

How was this any different than him carrying her bridal style? Even with all the knowledge he had, he had no idea how a girl's mind worked.

She hiked up her yukata as she stepped over him and pressed up against his back. She then grabbed the giraffe and held it under one arm by the neck. "Ready," she murmured as he put his arms under her thighs.

"Hikaru. I have one question. Are…are you wearing a juban underneath that yukata?"

"Huh? No? Why?"

"No reason," Archer said quickly as he stood. He had forgotten how thin yukatas were and Hikaru was pretty well endowed in _that _area. _Don't think about it_, he chastised himself. Of course the more he tried not to think about it, the more he thought about it. Dam it, why did he decide to carry her this way? He should have just went with his usual bridal carry and ignored all protests.

"You're really quiet," she murmured.

"It's nothing," he replied. "Do I still keeping going up?"

"Yeah. Keep going. We're almost there. The trees will thin out soon." He was painfully aware of her shifting on his back to point in the direction they needed to travel. _Stop thinking about it!_

Thankfully, like she said, the trees did thin out. They were now on a small hill that overlooked the river. There were many people clustered on the shoreline but there were only the two of them on the hill. "I'm surprised this is even here." He kneeled so Hikaru could stand.

"Aunt Nomi found this spot." Hikaru sat on the grass and kicked off her shoes. "She said it was our special spot and that I was only allowed to bring someone special to me here." Even in the weak light, he could see her face turn red. She began plucking up grass absentmindedly as he sat down next to her.

"Well then, I thank you for showing this to me." He rested his hand on top of hers.

"Y…y...you're welcome."

Like always she was so adorable when she was flustered. He was about to tease her more when the first firework soared up into the sky. Her eyes widen and sparkled as she watched the fireworks dance in the sky.

"So pretty," she whispered.

"Yeah," he agreed. His turned his attention away from her sparkling face and gazed up at the sky. It was beautiful, he had to admit. So many colors and shapes. She had been right about this location. The perfect view.

"Archer?"

He turned to her. "Yes?"

"Thanks for everything," she gave him a wide smile before she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. She retreated and stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing," he said. He was shocked. This was the first time she had kissed him of her own volition since she had woken up.

She frowned. "Did I do something wrong?" She bit her lip and turned her attention back to the fireworks. "Sorry," she whispered. "Not reading the mood right am I? I really do stink at this kind of stuff. I'm sorry. I'm being a bother..."

What in the world was she apologizing for? "Hikaru. You did nothing wrong. You aren't a bother at all." He interlaced his fingers with was wrong with her?

She shook her head. "But I have to have done something wrong!" she insisted. Her eyes were wide with worry now. "You..you haven't kissed me on the lips since before my coma. I have to done something wrong." She looked away and began ripping up more grass. "You can tell me Archer. You can tell me that you don't like me anymore and that you are being nice and stuff. I can take it."

What in the world? Where was she getting these kinds of ideas? "Hikaru. Look at me." He put both hands on either side of her head and forced her to look at him. "I just wanted to give you some time. To get used to things again. You were out of it for two months." He didn't want to overwhelm her but it seemed like it did was give her the wrong idea. "Trust me. I still love you." He released her and hugged her tight. "I did not visit that hospital every day for two months for no reason Hikaru."

He let her go and saw that surprise was clear on her face. "Oh. So that's all it was." She smiled to herself. "I feel stupid then for overthinking. I knew I was!" She laughed. "I knew I was." She rubbed her eyes as she gazed up at the fireworks. "Woah! Did you see that one Archer? It was blue! And that one! Green!"

He smiled as he gazed at her sparkling face. Yes. This was the girl he loved. The one that would get excited about little things and worry about everything. "Hikaru?"

"Hmm?" She turned to him.

He kissed her on the lips. "I need to thank you for everything."

She stared at him in shock for a couple of seconds as she tried to process what he said before she then grinned. "You're welcome! Oh man! Did you see that firework!? It was shaped like a star!"

Yes. Gazing at her smiling face, under the fireworks, everything was perfect. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her shoulders as they gazed up the fireworks overhead.

"By the way, I'm going to be carrying you home in the usual way."

"Wha!? No!"


	2. Dreams

**Really short quick one next. Sorry about it guys! I really do want to be quick and churn out and update as fast as possible but I've been getting ready to go back to the dorms. I'll TRY to get at least one chapter out a week though(really have no idea how I'm going to keep that promise once classes officially start though…)**

* * *

Archer opened his eyes. His bedroom was dark, the only light streaming in from the half-open curtains. He turned his head slightly to check the clock by his futon for the time. Three in the morning. Great. He still had a couple of hours to sleep and he was going to take it. He turned over to go back to sleep but he paused when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He froze. The door to his room was slowly being opened.

He tightened one of his hands into fists, ready to trace. He didn't move so whoever it was did not know he was awake. Was it a burglar? Was Hikaru okay in the room next door? Damn it. If he was a Servant still he could just go through the wall to check on her. Nope, the only way he could leave his room now was through the door. If it was a burglar though, and he hurt her, then he would pay, big time.

"Archer? Are you awake?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

He relaxed immediately and used his elbow to prop himself up. "What is it? It's the middle of the night, Hikaru."

Hearing his voice, she opened the door wide enough for her to step inside before shutting it behind her. From the moonlight pouring in, he could see that her hair was a frazzled mess and she was wearing pajamas that were a little big on her. She was biting her lip.

"What is it?" he asked again. "Is something wrong?" It wasn't like her to visit him in the middle of the night like this. Oh jeez. Was she on her period? Nomi had instructed him that sometimes Hikaru would sometimes awake in the middle of the night because of it and he was given specific instructions on what to do. Involving water bottles and singing her back to sleep. That was an awkward conversation to say in the least. Nomi hadn't even tried to be tactful about it either. He still was not sure if Nomi had been serious about any of it or not.

She fidgeted. "Ummm," she began. She brushed her hair out of her face and began twiddling her fingers together. "C…can we sleep together?"

He stared at her and blinked slowly. "What?" He didn't hear it correctly right? And she couldn't mean it like _that_ right? No way. She was so innocent about matters like this! This was probably Nomi's doing wasn't it? Or Rin! He could see Rin putting her up to something like this. "Hikaru," he began slowly. "Now maybe we should go much slower about stuff like this…"

"I…I had a bad dream," she murmured, like she didn't hear a word he said. "I tried going to sleep by myself but I couldn't…so…"

So that's what it was. He sighed and sat up. He shouldn't have been surprised that this was the reason she was here. This was something Hikaru would do, not come into his room in the middle of the night for _other _things.

There was no way he could say no to those pitiful brown doe eyes of hers. Obviously this was no normal nightmare if it caused her to come to him. If only she realized the problem of her sleeping in the same bed with him.

"You can get in. I'll put a shirt on."

"Oh," she said. Her eyes locked onto the floor as she made her way over to the futon. He rolled his eyes as he got up and grabbed a shirt out of a drawer. When he turned around he saw she was already under the blanket with her back to him.

"Sorry," she mumbled as he crawled back under the warm covers.

"Don't worry about it." He wasn't sure if he would be able to go back to sleep now.

"It was a bad one," she said.

"A memory then?" Sometimes, when she slept, she had dreams of other versions of herself because her mind wasn't as guarded when she was asleep. This was the first time she had come into his room after one though, even though she classified some of those dreams as "bad ones" too.

"Yeah." She was shivering slightly. "I…she…died. Horribly. Multiple times. Over and over. So many times…so many different ways…I could feel it Archer. Those blades…those murder weapons…everything. I could feel everything that killed her…"

Again. She was having horrible dreams again. Feeling things that someone as innocent at her should not have to feel. However unlike before he didn't have to hold back. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him and rested his head on top of hers. Her shivering subsided immediately.

"Nothing will happen to you. You're safe."

"But she's not…"

Archer was silent. There was nothing he could say to make her feel better. There was something odd in what she said though. She had died multiple times? How was that possible? He couldn't ask her though. Not when she was like this. Heck, he probably won't even ask her in the morning either. It was already paining her so much.

"This reminds me of the old times," she whispered and giggled. "Back when I had dreams of my past."

"Only I would be forced to get into your bed instead of the other way around," he replied.

"Remember the time Aunt Nomi walked in?"

"I'm trying to forget that." Even now and then Nomi would bring it up much to Archer's dismay. She also loved connecting it with an S&M related comment as well.

"I know Aunt Nomi still likes to tease you about it. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. There's no way you could control Nomi's antics."

"But still…"

He lightly kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry about it. Just go to sleep. You have school in the morning. You don't want to be sleeping in class."

"Yeah, Taiga will have my head for that," she laughed.

"Thanks Archer," she whispered after a few moments of silence.

"Just sleep," he told her. "You won't have that dream again." At least he hoped so. Her dreams were one place where he could not protect her.

He felt her move and he loosened his grip as she turned over to face him. "Hikaru?"

She smiled at him and Archer resisted the urge to kiss her right then and there. He had no idea where it would go from there but he knew the both of them would end up getting any sleep for the rest of the night. He was broken out of his thoughts as she flicked his forehead.

"You are thinking weird things again," she giggled. She ducked and pressed her forehead against his chest to protect it from Archer's retaliation.

"What am I going to do with you?" he sighed. No answer. No way. She couldn't have. "And you're asleep," he said in disbelief. He sighed again and kissed the top of her head before he settled to snatch up a couple more hours of dreams.


	3. Cultural Festival

**Yup, I have confirmed that writing one chapter a week probably will not happen. As for the Gilgamesh story, I have a semi-idea of where it should go but I'm still trying to decide whether to go "Extra" route masters/servants or just use "Staynight" Servants/Masters.**

* * *

Hikaru rested her head on her desk as the final bell rang to signal the end of class. She closed her eyes. So tired. Finally! The torture was over.

"Are you okay Hikaru? You look exhausted." Rin stopped by her desk and gave her friend a look that conveyed all the pity she felt.

"Of course I'm exhausted." Hikaru sat up. Somehow she had managed to learn all of the material and pass her exams (with the help of Archer) so she was allowed to come back for the second term and continue her education in school. It had taken a while to get into the swing of things after being out of school for months. "Taiga went on a tangent about the latest game she bought. Honestly, if she and Aunt Nomi got together, I fear for the future."

"I have to agree with that," laughed Rin. "Anyway. You heading home now?"

"Yeah." Hikaru got to her feet and put the textbooks she would need for tonight's assignments in her bag. "Archer has the night off so we're going to have dinner together…What is that look for Rin?"

Rin shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh nothing." She turned to leave but whirled around a moment later. "Oh but remember that we're going to be staying after school next week to prepare for the culture festival."

"Don't worry. I won't forget," she laughed. After bidding farewell to Rani (who had transferred into her class), Hikaru headed for the stairs to the first floor. She gazed out the window and noticed that clouds overhead were looking very ominous. She frowned. That wasn't good. She quickened her gait as she went down the stairs and almost crashed into Shinji at the bottom.

"Hey," he snapped. "Watch where you are going!"

"Sorry about that Shinji!" she replied as she sidestepped him. She hurried to the shoe lockers and grabbed her loafers out of her locker and plopped them onto her feet. After she had put her school shoes away she headed for the entrance of the school and stopped in her tracks.

"Just my luck." She hung her head in defeat. The rain was coming down in sheets. The morning had been sunny so she had ended up not bringing an umbrella with her despite Archer telling her that it was going to rain. She glanced to her left and right and saw various students leaving the school with umbrellas of their own.

"Great," she murmured. "And now I look like an idiot." She debated on making a run for it but thought against it. The water droplets were huge and she would need to travel on the train. Plus she could already hear Archer nagging her about getting sick for doing so stupid. "Guess I need to stay here…"

This sucked big time! This was one of the few times Archer had the afternoon off as well as the evening. She wanted to spend the whole day with him. With her in school and him working they barely had time to spend with each other despite the fact they lived under the same roof.

She wrapped a lock of hair around her finger as she contemplated what to do. Maybe she could find an empty classroom and do her homework? It wasn't like she brought any of her magus books to school so she couldn't even practice that either.

"Hikaru-san. You are still here."

Hikaru turned her head. "Hey Rani. Yeah. I'm still here." She gestured to the rain. "Can't exactly go out like this."

Rani pulled her umbrella out of the stand and opened it. "If you would like, we can share this," offered the homunculus.

Hikaru shook her head. "No. Don't worry about it Rani. You live in the opposite direction of me so it would be more work for you if you took me home. I'll wait for the rain to slow down or stop and then I'll head out."

Rani did not seem happy about that but with Hikaru's coaxing she finally agreed to go without Hikaru. She turned to leave but paused. "Hikaru-san. Isn't that your Servant-I mean boyfriend over there?"

"Huh?" Hikaru looked up in surprise. Archer was walking over with a large umbrella in hand. "Archer. What are you doing here?" she squeaked.

"Getting you of course. You forgot an umbrella this morning and I knew you would be standing here like a sad little puppy waiting for the rain to stop."

She puffed out her cheeks. "I'm not a sad little puppy."

"A puppy?" Rani repeated, confused.

Hikaru could hear students around them whispering to each other. Of course. A tall, handsome man had come to pick up boring, normal Hikaru. Of course people were going to whisper. Ack! What if a teacher saw!? What if they asked her about this!? The school allowed them to date but Hikaru wans't sure if it included men that were obviously in their twenties.

"I'll explain later Rani," she stated quickly. It was definitely better if she got out of here as soon as possible. "Wait," she said when she noticed something, "We're sharing one?" she squeaked.

Archer, who seemed oblivious to the whispering, just nodded. "I was on my way to get supplies for dinner when I remembered that you forgot one so I came straight here."

"That's so sweet," she said with a smile. Archer could be so adorable at times! However…she had to share an umbrella with him!? They never did anything like that before. And right in front of the school on top of everything!

"Shall we go?" he asked. It seemed like he finally felt the stares on him and he glanced around uncomfortably.

"Yeah," she replied. The faster they got out of there the better. For both of them. She turned to Rani. "If anyone asks, don't tell them that Archer is boyfriend. Make something up or something."

Rani nodded. "Yes, I understand. This kind of situation is troublesome for girls your age. I will keep quiet."

"Thanks Rani." She slid under the umbrella and the two of them began walking. She could feel the question stares on her back until they made it past the school gate. She sighed in relief. Hopefully Rani would be able to give a good enough excuse so no one would ask any questions.

"I didn't cause any trouble right?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. It's fine. They'll probably forget by Monday." Hopefully. To take her mind off of that, she lifted her hand up to try to grab the umbrella handle. In response Archer just lifted it higher, just out of her grasp.

She frowned and held onto Archer in support as she reached up to try to grasp the umbrella with her free hand as she stood on her tiptoes.

"Hikaru…what are you doing?"

"Trying to hold the umbrella," she huffed as she dropped back down onto her feet. "I feel bad. You're holding it and you came to get me and well, I feel bad," she repeated.

Archer sighed. Hikaru knew this sigh perfectly. It was the "what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you" sigh. The one that annoyed her the most. "Hikaru. You are shorter than me. You won't be able to hold it over both of us without trouble so just let me do it alright?"

She frowned but decided it would be best to just drop it. Archer was always stubborn about things like this. She had also noticed that he was walking on the sidewalk closest to the street. Trying to be gentlemanly huh? Not like she minded though. She would have laced her fingers with his if he wasn't holding onto the umbrella between them.

She clapped her hands over her forehead right before Archer's fingers could attack it. Hah! She grinned up at him. "Ha! You weren't able to get me that time!"

"Only you would be happy about something like this." He was shaking his head but he was smiling as well. He grabbed her arm and yanked her closer to him before she stepped into a knee-deep puddle. "And you would not pay attention to what is happening in front of you."

"I saw it! I was just…going to jump over it!"

The look he gave her told her he thought otherwise. Well what did he know! She could have. Well, okay, maybe not. "Well anyway! The uh…culture festival is coming up next weekend and my class is having a café and I was wondering if maybe…"

"Don't worry. I won't miss it," he replied. "I already made sure I was off on that day."

"Oh?" She tried to remember if she told him about it before but couldn't.

"Your aunt," he explained. "She called me up and told me I had to go because she couldn't and gave me the date and told me that I had to go in her place."

Oh Aunt Nomi. Hikaru shouldn't have been surprised that she had told him. Nomi loved coming to the cultural festival. Heck, she even went every year before Hikaru had entered high school. "Well, that's good then," she grinned. "We can walk around together and stuff!"

"Yes we can. Anyway, what would you like for dinner?" he asked as they reached the supermarket.

"Steak!"

He laughed. "Steak it is then."

* * *

Archer walked down the hallway on the way to Hikaru's classroom. The school was crowded with people going to check out the different exhibits and other attractions of the cultural festival. It was a lively day to say in the least. He smiled to himself as he remembered the last time he had walked through the school like this. It was when he had been Hikaru's Servant in her first couple of days of the War. Back when he had kept her at arm's length. Oh how things have changed since then.

He paused in front of Hikaru's classroom. Rani was standing outside the door in a maid outfit. She was gesturing for people to come inside. "Welcome back-oh hello Archer," she said with a slight bow when she saw him.

"Maid café?" Archer shook his head as he read the sign outside. Hikaru did not mention that. She had just said it was a café.

"Based on votes, it was thought that this would be able to get us on the most business. I was put out here because someone in the class mentioned that my way of speech would be considered 'moe' by some."

Based on the amount of people in the café, he guessed that this "moe" plan was working.

"Hey now! Let's not leave a customer standing out here!" Rin walked over. Like Rani, she was also in a maid outfit.

"Where's Hikaru?" he asked as Rin lead him to a table. There were various girls from the class in maid outfits serving customers but Hikaru was not among them.

Rin grinned but did not respond. Archer did not like that look at all. "Just sit," she replied. "She's in the back; I'll grab her for you."

Archer obeyed although he was a bit worried about what Rin was up to. He picked up the menu on the table and looked it over. There wasn't much, just a small assortment of drinks and snacks. Well, he shouldn't have expected much from a cultural festival café. He saw someone approach his table out of the corner of his eye.

"Hello Master. Can I take your order?"

Archer almost dropped the menu in shock. There she was, Hikaru, in a maid outfit like all of the other girls in the café. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked downright adorable. What his attention was focused on was what she had said.

She tilted her head to the side slightly. "What's wrong Master?" she giggled. "You're turning red Master."

"Stop it," he snapped as his eyes locked onto the table.

She giggled again. "I guess it's weird for you for me to call you 'Master' huh? Weird role revasal here! We're in a maid café though! I need do it like that…Master!"

"Uh yeah." He took a deep breath and looked at her when he was sure he would jump up and grab her. "I thought you said you were working the back?"

"Oh I am for now," she replied. She looked down at the outfit and tugged at the skirt that barely made it to her knees. "We all wear this though and Rin said I should serve you myself so yeah. I have the second shift to work out front so yeah." She shrugged.

Well that made him a little bit better that she was not calling anyone else that for now. Hang on. What the heck was he thinking!? He silenced that train of thought before it got too out of hand.

"So umm what would you like Arch-Master," she corrected herself. She winced as a girl from the class glared at her. "That's the class rep. This was all her idea." She sighed. "She's probably going to yell at me later for not doing what I am supposed to. Oh well. Anyway, I'll be back…Master."

"But I didn't order anything," he pointed out.

"Coffee," she replied with a grin as she hurried away.

He smiled as he leaned back in his chair as he waited for her to return. He gazed around at the other tables and noticed that almost all of them had guys. He frowned and checked on Hikaru. Much to his annoyance, he noticed that a couple of guys were watching her as she returned to his table with a cup of coffee.

"Here you go, Maaaaaaaassuuuutteeeerrr!" she stated as she put the cup down in front of him. "I hope you enjoy!"

"Thanks Hikaru," he managed to get out. Could she please stop doing that!? At this rate he was going to grab her and kiss her right then and there.

"Are you going to be hanging around here to check out the other stalls and such? I'll be taking a break soon so…"

"I'll wait for you," he replied. "Are…" He looked away. "Are you still going to be wearing…that?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." She swished the short skirts around. "It's good advertisement for the class." She tilted her head to the side slightly. "Why are you asking?"

He looked away. "No reason." He quickly took a sip of the coffee to avoid speaking to her.

She blinked slowly but shrugged. "Ummm, okay then…I'll be done soon."

* * *

"Is Archer acting funny or is it just me?" wondered Hikaru.

Rin almost dropped the cup of tea she was setting on the counter for one of the maid waitresses to take. She stared at her friend for a couple of seconds. "Hikaru….you really have no idea?"

"Have no idea about what?"

Rin shook her head. "I feel bad for poor Archer then."

"What? What?!" insisted Hikaru. Really now. What was up with Rin and Archer!? Why did it seem like they knew something she didn't? "Rin! Tell me!"

"If you don't get it, well then, there is nothing we can do about that. Just some advice, don't call him Master when you two are walking around-heck, especially don't call him that when you two are alone." Hikaru tilted her head to the side but Rin did not elaborate on what she meant by that. Rin sighed. "How in the world are you in a relationship and yet so clueless? Anyway, you get going while you still have time to take your break." Rin waved for Hikaru to get out of there.

Frowning, Hikaru obeyed. As soon as she stepped out of the door she spotted Archer leaning against a window. He stood up when he saw her approach. "Do you have to wear that sign on your back?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "It says which classroom our café is in! Advertising Archer! We need to do it!"

"Alright then," he said with a roll of his eyes. He held out his hand and Hikaru slipped her own into his as they walked down the hallway to check out what the other classes were doing. She yanked her hand out of his when she saw a teacher coming in their direction. They were both in silent agreement that it was probably better if they didn't make it obvious they were dating while in the school.

"Oh hey! A haunted house!" Hikaru said as she pointed. A girl dressed up as a ghost stood outside a black curtain that covered the doorway.

"Would you like to come in?" asked the ghost girl. She made an evil face. "If you dare of course."

"That is a-okay!" Hikaru said quickly before Archer could answer. "We are a-okay out here!"

"Oh come on, I think this would be interesting," said Archer. "Something different at least."

"No way! That is fine! We don't _need_ to go in there!"

"Wait…are you scared of haunted houses?" Archer stared down at her in disbelief.

"No! Of course I'm not!" Right after the words left her mouth, a scream came from the haunted house. She jumped and clutched Archer's arm tightly. Realizing what she was doing a moment later, she released him and took a step forward. "I am not scared at all!" she insisted. Archer's face told her he didn't believe her statement though. Ha! She would show him!

"I'm going in!" she insisted. Before she could lose her resolve, she stepped through the curtain. Another scream came from further in and she immediately turned around and burst out into the warm, safe sunlight.

"You lasted longer than I thought you would. I am impressed."

Hikaru glared at Archer. "Be quiet," she murmured as she straightened out her skirts. "I uh, didn't want to ruin the maid outfit by going in there! You don't know what fake blood could do to this if it got on this outfit!"

Archer rolled his eyes but he didn't fight against her statement. Instead the two headed down the hallway to enjoy the various other booths and events that the other classes put on.

After one circuit around the school, they were back in front of Hikaru's classroom. "Well, that's it I guess," she commented. "I'm going to need to get back to work. I don't want the class rep to chew me out for not doing my job."

"Yeah," Archer replied.

Hikaru tilted her head to the side slightly. He sounded so distracted. It was weird. "Archer? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied.

Hikaru noticed a couple of boys were walking into the classroom and she whirled around and bowed. "Welcome back Master!" she said cheerfully. "Just choose a seat when you get inside."

One of the boys looked like he was going to say something to her but he stopped himself and hurried inside with his friends. Hikaru blinked slowly. What was that about? Wait a minute. She turned her head. Her boyfriend was looking quite peachy and happy with himself. "Seriously?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about but I think I'll stay here until you close."

"Oh no you don't!" Hikaru ran behind him and began pushing against his back. "You are going home! Stop scaring our customers!"

Of course Archer did not budge. It was like trying to move a boulder. A very stubborn boulder. She puffed out her cheeks and ran in front of him. Yes, she could have used reinforcement but that would have raised many, many questions for onlookers. "Come on Archer!" she whined. "You need to go!"

"There is no way I'm leaving." He looked down at her with his arms crossed.

She glared up at him. She heard the sound of a throat being cleared from the café and she gave the class rep. a sheepish look before turning her attention back to her stubborn boyfriend. How was she going to get him to go? He was going to be bad for business if he scared away people due to his aura and stuff!

Wait. It was a maid café…

A small smile appeared on her face as she put her hands behind her back and gave him a huge smile. "Can you please go home Master? Or at least not come back to the café while I am working…Master. Please Master? Pretty please?" She batted her eyelashes as Archer turned his head away from her. Even if he was trying to hide it, she could see that his face was starting to take a reddish tint to it. His hands, she noticed, were also twitching slightly.

"Hey Archer, Hikaru." Rin came up behind Hikaru and slung an arm around her friend. "What'cha you doing out here? You are coming back to continue your shift right? It's your turn to do the serving. Hopefully you won't go missing in the next couple of seconds." She was eying Archer as she spoke.

He sighed and shook his head. "Fine, fine. I get the hint," he grumbled.

"Great!" Rin began pulling Hikaru towards the doorway. "Oh and Archer! We get to keep our maid uniforms after today is over."

Hikaru wasn't sure but it looked like Archer's face was getting even redder. "I'll see you tonight at dinner then Hikaru," he said. Weirdly, he was not looking her in the eye when he was talking.

"Uh okay," she replied. She gave him a smile since there was no way she could kiss him goodbyehere. "See you later."

Archer waved goodbye before he began walking away but it was like he hadn't even heard her.

"Why did you lie about the uniforms?" Hikaru wondered when Archer was out of sight.

"I'll tell you when you are older," Rin laughed. "Come on. Let's get to work before the class rep. chews you out."


	4. Carnival Phantasm 1

**This was requested by FreeWeirdGal. A Carnival Phantasm-styled chapter! :D This was fun to write, haha. I need to have more chapters like this in the future. XD  
**

**And before anyone asks, I have the basic plot and ideas down for the GilgameshXHeroine story. I also have a bit of the first chapter written out.**

* * *

"Ahnenerbe," read Hikaru. She turned away from the sign and stared up at the small café. It was cute. Really cute. She whirled around to face Archer. "Why don't we go in here? It looks so cute!"

Archer shrugged which told her he was alright with it.

That was enough of an invitation for her! "Alrighty then!" She opened the door to the small café and stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was how cute it was. There were a couple of people sitting at every single table which had to mean it was popular, right? Why didn't she come here before? She had passed by this street a couple of times in the past but she never remembered there being a café here.

She blinked. Wait. Was that a cat-person at the counter?

"Hello," spoke a short blond cat person. "We're a bit full right now so would you mind sharing a table with another guest?"

"Uh…" Hikaru glanced over at Archer but he didn't seem very worried about the talking cat-thing. In fact he looked quite distracted. Was this thing in front of her even a cat? Those eyes were huge! "Uh sure."

"Follow me."

"Is something wrong Archer?" asked Hikaru as they followed the cat to the back of the café. She slipped her hand through his in concern.

"Nothing. It just feels like I've been here before…"

The cat-thing stopped at a table that was occupied by two. A boy, about her age, with short orange hair that felt strangely familiar to Hikaru and the other was a blond, foreign woman. She glanced back and noticed that Archer was staring at the both of them in shock. A quick look at the man and woman, told her they were staring at him in shock as well.

Was she missing something? "Ummm Archer? Is something wrong?"

"I thought you had more class than that Archer," spoke the woman. "Going out with another woman." Her eyes flickered down to Archer and Hikaru's intertwining hands.

The boy facepalmed. "Does _she _know about this?"

"Huh?" Wait. Did these people know Archer? She stared up at her boyfriend in confusion. "Wait. What's going on here? Archer?"

"This is Saber," Archer relented, gesturing to the woman. He paused and he looked conflicted about telling her who the man was. "And uh…that's Shirou Emiya," he said quietly.

"WHAT!?" Hikaru ran over to the table and slammed her hands against it as she stared at Shirou.

He leaned back as she leaned towards his face, really studying every little thing about him. She stared at Archer and then stared at Shirou and then did it again. How did this guy turn into Archer!? They looked completely different! Archer looked so capable and this guy looked so…not capable.

"Can you please stop staring like that Hikaru?" sighed Archer. She couldn't believe it but did he actually look embarrassed?

"When you said you got a tan…you really meant it," she commented before she stood. "Ummm sorry," she told Shirou. Was Saber his girlfriend then? She was glaring at Hikaru a little bit. Sure Archer told her a little bit of his time as a Master but he never said anything about dating Saber…

Oh wait! She was being rude wasn't she? "Sorry! I'm Hikaru Kishinami!" she bowed slightly to try to make up for her rude behavior before.

"Nice to meet you," replied Shirou, smiling.

Hikaru stared. That smile was so familiar it was frightening.

"Alright. You can stop staring."

"GAH!" Hikaru puffed out her cheeks as she rubbed her forehead where Archer had flicked a few mere seconds before. "Did you have to do that!?"

"You had a weird expression. I couldn't help it. You were thinking of something strange again and I have a feeling I know _exactly_ what it was about."

"Well you didn't know I was thinking about something like whatever you thought I was thinking about! You can't prove it!"

"I don't need to prove it. That look on your face was all I needed."

Hikaru pouted and crossed her arms. "Well you are a poopoo head about that…"

Archer rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I am a 'poopoo head'."

"Can I ask what is the relationship between you two?" put in Saber. Her green eyes were glancing back and forth between them.

"Well uh…that is…"

Was Archer actually stammering? Hikaru stared at him for a couple of seconds. Awww. Was he nervous to tell his younger self? Hang on. Would this cause a space-time paradox or whatever? It shouldn't right? Well, what did she know? It couldn't hurt though right? Archer was from the Moon Cell after all.

"He's my boyfriend!" she said cheerfully, completely oblivious to Archer signaling her to shut up.

Saber almost dropped her teacup and Shirou just stared at her in confusion. That was not the kind of reaction she was expecting at all. Did she say something wrong? "Uh…what?"

"We should go Hikaru," Archer said quickly. "_Now_."

"Does…does Rin know about this?" asked Shirou.

Rin? What did Rin have to do with anything? She glanced over at Archer. "Archer? What's going on?" He wasn't looking at her. In fact he looked downright nervous now.

"Archer?" Her eyes widen to the point of being dinner saucers. Tears pricked the corner of her vision. Sure she knew about the thing in the nurse's office from Moon Cell Hikaru and Moon Cell Hikaru did ask him about it and he had reacted funny but still…this was…

"Hikaru! Please don't start crying!" he said in a panic when he realized what was happening with her. "It's not like that at all!"

"But…but…" blubbered Hikaru. "But they said you are with Rin! I mean I know she's my best friend and you did know her previously and stuff but…"

"I hope you are happy," growled Archer, aiming that at Shirou and Saber. He softened his expression as he turned his attention back to Hikaru who looked like she was going to start pouring out tears at any second.

"I mean, I know Rin is nice and she is capable although very tsundere around boys which I guess is the kind of personality some guys like and I'm not very tsundere at all. Instead I'm pretty klutzy and overthink things and attract danger all the time as you know. And Rin is more confident and stuff although you did tell Moon Cell Hikaru you like girls like this." She moved her hands to make air curves to demonstrate. Saber looked down at her chest and glanced over at Shirou who was avoiding meeting eyes with his Servant. "Which is why you aren't attracted to Rin but you were lying to me right? You actually do like girls like Rin but you said that you liked me because you wanted to make me feel better and stuff!"

Archer didn't even know where to start with this one. She was being crazy and overthinking things. Like usual. "Hikaru," he began. "It's not like that. Please don't start crying." He reached out to hold her but she slid back. "Come on Hikaru. Don't listen to them."

"But, but, but, but," she stammered. "It makes sense and stuff!" The tears in her eyes were dangerously close to falling. Any wrong move and the tears would pour out like a waterfall.

The door to the café slammed open.

Everyone turned to the just-opened door as Gilgamesh strode in in all of his golden glory.

Saber jumped to her feet, her outfit transforming into a battle gown. Her hands were held in front of her like she was holding an invisible sword. Shirou had stood at the same time she did.

The golden Servant's eyes fell on Hikaru, who had a few tears leaked out of her eyes at this point, and they darkened. "Mongrel…," he snarled, his eyes shifting over to Archer. "You made my Queen cry."

"Wait…what?" Shirou stared back and forth between Archer and Gilgamesh.

The golden Gates appeared behind Gilgamesh. "You must be ready to die mongrel. Gates of-"

He never got to finish as Hikaru flung a chair at him. It hit him square in the head and he tumbled to the ground. "You can't use the Gates here Gilgamesh! You'll destroy this place!" she protested.

"But that mongrel made you cry!" protested Gilgamesh, getting up. He rubbed his head where the chair had clocked him.

"But that doesn't mean you can destroy the place! Seriously. You are going to cause so much trouble for the…" Hikaru paused as she stared at the cat people and shrugged. "The people that own this establishment!"

"If my Queen wishes it, fine," sighed Gilgamesh. He shrugged and gave her his signature, dazzling smile. "There's no way I can resist giving you anything you ask."

"Gilgamesh is actually listening to her?" Shirou asked in shock.

"How are you able to control him?" asked Saber.

Gilgamesh walked over and Saber stiffened. He looked at her with a bored expression for a couple of seconds before turning his full attention to Hikaru. "How have you been?" he asked as he put his arm around her. He glared at Archer, who was now shooting venom with his eyes at the golden Servant. "If you want, I can get rid of him for you, My Queen," he whispered into her ear.

Archer's eyes narrowed and his hands balled into fists as Hikaru slipped out of Gilgamesh's grasp. "Stop teasing him," she protested. "You two shouldn't fight and just get along!"

"There's no way I can get along with him Hikaru. It is impossible," stated Archer.

"For once we are in agreement."

Hikaru put her hands on her hips. "I think you can if you put your mind to it!" She pointed to the table. "I want both of you to sit and have a civil conversation with each other!"

Gilgamesh and Archer stared at her like it was the end of the world. She glared back at them both. "In case you forgot Archer, you were apparently with Rin…" She crossed her arms and glared at him as Archer began to protest. Her eyes shifted over to Gilgamesh. "And you tried to destroy the place! Sit down!"

Archer and Gilgamesh sat down with inhuman speed. "Now have a conversation and talk some stuff out! Seriously! You two get into a fight if you are in the vicinity of each other! Do you know how annoying it is to try to play moderator!? You need to figure out your differences and get over them!"

"My Queen, do you really expect me to have a conversation with…" He trailed off and looked away as Hikaru glared at him. She turned her back to the two of them.

"You better not be fighting whenever I look back or that chair will be the least of your worries," she warned them. With the message clear, she stalked to the other end of the room and crossed her arms.

"Wow," commented Shirou.

Hikaru whirled around in surprise. He had followed her? Saber was right behind him with a plate of curry that she was scarfing down at an alarming speed.

"You need to tell me how to control Gilgamesh," stated Saber, in between bites. "You were able to make him obey you without removing your ahoge. I would like to know what you did."

What did that mean? Hikaru shrugged. "It's not like it was hard. I mean you just need to be assertive. He likes an assertive Queen." She sent a glare in the direction of the table. Archer and Gilgamesh seemed to be arm wrestling now. Feeling her glare, and very evil aura, they stopped and resumed to glaring at each other from across the table.

Saber nodded. "I understand. I will take that into account. However I am already a King…"

Hikaru stared at Saber for a few seconds. "You…a king?" She tilted her head slightly in confusion. She looked like a girl. Who was she in history?

"Hikaru-chan!? You're here!?"

Hikaru looked up in surprise. "Lancer!?"

The Servant hurried over to her. He was wearing casual clothes, with an apron over it. "I didn't know you were here otherwise I would have come out earlier!"

"You know her Lancer?" asked Saber in surprise.

"Of course!" Lancer put an arm around her shoulder. "This is Hikaru-chan! The light in the dark when Rin was my Master! Hey, remember that meal you promised to make me if we meet again?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah. I would cook you a meal. I didn't bring anything I made though."

"That's alright!" Lancer said happily, "There's a kitchen here." He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "You know, we could-" He never got to finish as he was thrown backwards as two swords pinned him to the wall.

Gilgamesh and Archer were out of their chairs and were next to Hikaru. Both of them glared down at Lancer. "Well, mongrel, this is one thing we can agree on," Gilgamesh said.

"Yes," replied Archer as he cracked his knuckles. "I have to agree with you."

"Uhhhh," began Hikaru. "What are you two?"

"I would turn away. It's pretty traumatic the first time," Shirou said as he grabbed Hikaru's arm and turned her away from the scene and Lancer's screams.

"He died again," stated Saber.

"Oh, he does that a lot?" That made a lot of sense to Hikaru. Poor Lancer. "That must suck to be him then."

"Can we go now?" asked Archer. He showed her his watch. "We're supposed to be home soon. Alice is coming over remember?"

"Oh right!" exclaimed Hikaru. She completely forgot about that! "I wish we had more time to talk, I really would like to know how Archer was like before he became...himself," she told Shirou. "But we really need to go." She yelped as Gilgamesh swept her into his arms. "Hey!" She reinforced her arms and pushed him away. "Stop it! Didn't you say you were going to find me-her that will meet you first!? I think you should get on doing that!"

Gilgamesh sighed but he, thankfully, did release her. "Alright fine. Because you said so my Queen."

Hikaru sighed in relief. "You ready to go Archer?" she asked right as the door of the café opened again.

Everyone froze. Hikaru stared at the duo who had just entered, Archer and then she rubbed her eyes. No. She wasn't imagining it. The duo that had just entered was Rin along with Archer. They were staring right back at Hikaru and Archer with the same shocked look.

Tears sprung up Hikaru's eyes. "Archer…"

"There's a perfectly good, reasonable explanation for this!" he protested.

"Archer…care to explain?" Rin asked, turning to her Archer.

"I have no idea what is going on," he stated.

"Uh Hikaru…" Archer reached out to touch her shoulder but her expression stopped him.

She stared at him with free-flowing tears. "So you actually do prefer girls like Rin!?" She ran out of the café without a backwards glance.

"Wait!" Archer raced after her, leaving some very confused Masters and Servants in his wake. He found her a couple blocks down and the tears were already dried on her face. "Hikaru, there's a perfectly good reason why me-him was with Rin."

"Another world, I know," she said with a shrug.

Archer froze and stared at her. Wait what. "Wait…you aren't mad?"

She shook her head. "No…not really." She glanced back in the direction of the café. "It's weird but I felt like I had to act like that. Now that I'm thinking about it…everything that I did in there seemed very weird and I was pretty accepting of a lot of things…" Why was Lancer and Gilgamesh in there anywhere?

Archer shrugged. "I don't know anything about that place either."

Hikaru also shrugged. Whatever. It probably did not matter anyway."Want to get crepes before we go home?"

Archer sighed. "You really want crepes?"

She nodded like a bobble-head doll. "Of course I want crepes! Plus you owe me for dating Rin in another world!"

"But in the same logic, you owe me one for dating Gilgamesh."

She opened her mouth and shut it again. "Alright fine. We can buy each other a crepe!" She checked her phone. "Ack! Alice is going to be at the house soon! We need to hurry Archer if we are going to get crepes!"

He rolled his eyes but he followed her to the nearest crepe shop.


	5. Alice

**Shortish chapter but I wanted to write a little something about Alice. Also, in other news, I have the first chapter of the GilgameshXHeroine story written out and I know exactly what I am going to do with it. The thing is, I could release the chapter now and have it be updated on an INCREDIBLY slow schedule(espically with NaNoWriMo next month) or wait until winter break and churn out chapters. What do you all think you would want more?**

* * *

"Nee-san!"

Hikaru turned around and almost fell over as Alice gave her a huge hug. "Alice!" she cried out in surprise.

The little girl looked up at Hikaru with sparkling purple eyes as she released her and stepped back a step to give Hikaru room to breathe and recover from the sudden attack.

"Alice! What are you doing!?" Hikaru recognized the older woman that ran up to them. It was the same woman from the hospital, many months ago. This was Alice's mother. She stared at Hikaru for a few seconds and then her expression changed to one of recognition. "You're the girl that brought Alice back to the hospital."

"And she's Alice's Nee-san!" Alice stated proudly.

Hikaru couldn't read the woman's expression but she did notice that her eyes were a sparkling purple that matched Alice's perfectly. "Thank you," whispered the woman. "For looking after Alice."

"What?" Hikaru didn't understand. What did she mean?

Alice's mother kneeled before her daughter. "Why don't you go pick some flowers for Nee-san in the park?"

"And make Nee-san a flower crown?" Alice turned towards Hikaru. "Does Nee-san want a flower crown? I can make great crowns!"

Hikaru smiled and nodded. Alice grinned and raced towards the park. Hikaru and Alice's mother followed the little girl at a much slower pace.

"I'm sorry if you were busy with something."

Hikaru shook her head. "No. Don't worry about it. I was just going to the store to get stuff for dinner." Sadly tonight she would be eating alone as Archer was going to be coming home late and he told her not to wait up for him.

"Alice has always been a quiet girl. She's the type of girl that likes books more than people." Alice's mother and Hikaru sat down on a bench while Alice was kneeling in a small patch of wildflowers. Her expression was serious as she searched for the perfect flowers to use for the crown. "A couple months ago, my husband came back from a business trip with a new book for her. A book of fairytales. Alice was ecstatic to get it, she loves fairytales as you probably know. However after she got it, she became even more withdrawn. She rarely left her room. I even caught her making chalk drawings on her floor of a circle a couple of times."

No way. Hikaru bit her lip as she watched the little girl happily make a flower crown. She couldn't picture Alice being a withdrawn child. The book. Was that how Alice learned how to summon Caster? It had to be. "And then what happened?" she prompted.

"She just stopped talking about the book all of a sudden. She started going out a lot-saying she had a new friend. She came back home so many times with cuts and bruises. She said she had been playing with her friend but…"

Fighting in the Grail War with Caster no doubt. It was obvious to Hikaru that the family themselves did not know about magic and maguses. Otherwise they might have been able to guess what Alice was up to. Or Alice could have told them what she was up to.

"She did speak about you though." The older woman gave Hikaru a huge smile of gratitude. "She spoke about a 'Nee-san' who was kind to her and took her out to have fun. When she spoke about you, I just knew you were a good person. You gave Alice a smile that I haven't seen in a long time."

"Ah well," Hikaru looked away sheepishly. All this praise was making her embarrassed. "I didn't do much." It was probably not a good idea to admit that Alice had made Hikaru act like a fool in front of Archer and tried to kill her.

"You have," she insisted. She looked at her daughter sadly. The little girl had a pile of wildflowers next to her and she was beginning to weave them together into a crown. "Alice has been having a bad time at school," she admitted quietly. "You know how kids get when they see something different. Alice was the quiet girl."

Hikaru nodded. She knew how mean kids would be. She was never on the receiving end but she saw it. Poor Alice. If she could find those kids she would teach them a lesson for messing with Alice!

"After her time in the hospital, and after you brought her back, she was more open, more cheerful. You…you were the Nee-san she was visiting the hospital as well right? I never went but my husband went with her a couple of times and the description of the girl matched you."

Hikaru smiled as she thought of all of the drawings that had covered the wall behind her hospital bed. Archer had told her that Alice came by almost as much as he did. "Yes. That was me," she said softly.

"I'm glad that you are looking so well right now. When Alice got that call from a guy-your boyfriend right?-that you woke up, she was so happy that she was crying. She had a friend over too, she's been making a lot of those recently. The friend was so confused but she was happy as well. You've done a lot to help Alice."

Hikaru swallowed. What could she say? She didn't think she did anything. All she did was take Alice out to the amusement park and went after Julius when he had kidnapped her. And even then she was not the one who saved the girl, it was Gilgamesh.

"Nee-san!" Alice ran over with a woven flower crown in hand. "Alice finished the crown!"

"It's so pretty Alice!" Hikaru bent her head so Alice could put the crown on her head. "You drea picture like this right? It's on my desk."

Alice's eyes widen happily. "Nee-san kept all of Alice's drawings?"

"Yup. Every single one." She shrugged. "Archer complained about it when I made him help me take them all down to take home but you know how grumpy he gets."

Alice giggled. "He is very grumpy. But he said he was going to make me cookies one day when Alice visited Nee-san. Can Alice visit Nee-san?" She looked over at her mother. "Alice can visit Nee-san right?"

"If Nee-san is okay with it, yes."

Hikaru nodded. "Yes. That's fine. You can come over Alice." She grinned. "We'll have tons of fun and make so much noise that grumpy Archer will yell at us!"

Alice laughed. Her mother smiled. "Thank you," she whispered. She got up. "Come on Alice, we have kept…I'm sorry, what's your name? Hikaru Kishinami? We have kept up Hikaru for too long. She has to go back to her shopping."

Alice frowned. Obviously she was not happy with this.

"How about you come over next weekend?" suggested Hikaru. "We can have lots of fun times!"

Alice grinned and nodded. "Okay. Alice will come over then!"

Her mother bid farewell and Hikaru waved goodbye as mother and daughter walked away hand in hand. She bit her lip and rubbed her eyes as watched Alice and her mother. She shook her head. "We walked home the same way didn't we mom," she whispered. She sighed and got to her feet and slapped her cheeks lightly. "Dinner! Steak! Steak sounds good! Tonight I'm going to have steak!"

* * *

"I'm home," whispered Archer as he opened the front door. He slowly closed the door behind him as to not make much noise. It was late and she was probably already asleep. That's all he wanted to do right now too. It was a long day. He took off his shoes and noticed the light was on in the kitchen. "She left the light on again," he murmured.

He paused in the doorway and a small smile crept on his face. "You didn't have to wait for me," he said softly. She was asleep at the table, her arms acting like a pillow for her head. An empty mug stood lonely on the table.

"Come on. Let's get you to bed." He carefully scooped her into his arms.

"Mmmm Mom?"

Archer looked down at her in surprise but she was obviously still asleep. Probably a dream of a time long ago. Hopefully a good one. There have been too many bad dreams related to her family outside her room, he carefully shifted her so he would be able to open her door without dropping her. Thankfully she was smart enough to change into pajamas before she waited for him.

He pulled back the covers and laid her into the bed. She cracked open an eye. "A…Archer? You're back." Her voice was groggy.

"Go back to sleep," he whispered as he kissed her forehead.

"Dinner…in the fridge. Bath...drawn..."

"Got it. Now go back to sleep."

She gave him a smile before she turned over. In mere seconds her breathing was even again. He turned and left the room, careful to make sure the door was closed tight behind him. First a bath and then he would see what she had left for him.


	6. Child Hikaru

Archer's eye twitched.

He shut his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. No change.

"This is temporary right?" he asked, trying to keep his voice level.

Rin looked down at the bottle in her hand and quickly read the label. "Umm I think so. It says it has a short term effect. Ummm. Don't worry. This problem will fix itself." She looked down at said problem. "At least I hope so. You can take care of things until then…right?"

Archer sighed and stared down at Hikaru. His girlfriend looked up at him with big, huge five year old eyes which matched the rest of her five year old body.

"Do you think she has her memories?" wondered Rin.

Archer watched Hikaru bend down and play with the plush fibers of the carpet in Rin's room. Rin had fashioned a dress for her out of a curtain. It was a toga-like thing and gaudy but at least it was something. She was ignoring the grownups talking above her as she picked up various pieces of fluff and stared at them.

"I doubt it," replied Archer.

Hikaru got up and walked over to Rin's bed. After a couple of tries, she was able to scramble onto it and she began jumping up and down in excitement.

"You better fix this Rin," Archer warned her.

Rin shook her head. "You really don't have to tell me that. But seriously, it can't be all my fault. How was I supposed to know that Hikaru was going to trip, the cork of the bottle would pop off and she would be covered with the liquid from the bottle?!" She made a 'tsk' sound with her tongue. "I should have known getting a present from _her_ was not a good thing…"

"Can we focus on the fact that my girlfriend is now five years old?" snapped Archer.

He heard a thud from behind and then the sound of a child crying. He turned to see Hikaru lying on the carpet next to the bed. She was clutching her head as tears poured down her face.

Oh boy. What was he going to do with her? "There, there, don't cry Hikaru," he soothed as he walked over and kneeled next to her. He began gently rubbing the spot on her head that she had been clutching. "It's fine. You're okay." She put her arms around his neck and Archer lifted her off of the ground and gently bounced her up and down as he rubbed the spot until her sniveling subsided. "Better?" he asked her. "Did the ouchie go away?"

Hikaru lifted her head and nodded. "Ouchie go away!" She spread her little arms out to demonstrate.

Rin giggled. "You make a good father, you know that?"

Archer glared at her in response. "I wouldn't have to do this if you weren't an idiot and gave Hikaru something that dangerous when you know how trouble prone she is." Hikaru was getting fidgety in his arms so he put her down.

"Well then."Rin threw her hair over her shoulder. "This 'idiot' is going to go out. So…" She held out her hand. "And I don't think Hikaru should be walking outside in something like that."

Grumbling, Archer took out his wallet and slapped a couple of bills into Rin's waiting hand. "You should take full responsibility for this.

"I am in my own way," replied Rin. I'll be back soon. And you may want to pay attention to what your girlfriend is doing."

Archer looked down but Hiakru was no longer next to him. She was on the other end of the room, reaching for an expensive-looking vase on a small table.

"Good luck," Rin laughed as Archer raced over to grab her.

* * *

Archer sighed in relief as he opened the front door of their house. Rin's house had been a landmine. There were way too many expensive and dangerous things within reach or within sight of an adventurous, curious child. Thankfully, Rin didn't take too long in buying a set of clothes and a pair of shoes.

After struggling to get her changed, (with the promise of ice cream after dinner to make her comply) he took her home. He had wanted to carry her like back in the day when he was her Servant but he wasn't sure how child-Hikaru would react to something like that so he thought against it. Although the ground had not been much better either. He had to keep an almost death grip on her hand to prevent her from wandering away. Anything and everything attracted her attention. He felt like it was worse than taking a dog out for a walk.

"We're going to have dinner now-Hikaru, remember to take off your shoes!" he called after her before she could escape into the house.

"I forgot!" She bent down and kicked off her shoes before she raced away, leaving Archer to put her shoes away. "How in the world did your parents deal with you at this age?" he wondered.

A crash and thud came from the living room. Archer was in there mere seconds later. Thankfully nothing had toppled onto Hikaru. She had tipped over one of the side tables and all of the books had crashed to the floor. She seemed very proud of herself as she was reading one of the books. Or pretending to as the book was upside down and she was flipping through the pages way too fast.

"Honestly," he sighed as he righted the table and put the books back on it. He bent down to Hikaru's height and held out a hand. "Can I have that book?"

Hikaru puffed out her cheeks and clutched the book tight to her chest. "No. Mine!"

Of course it was. "Well can you and your book come to the kitchen?" There was no way he was going to let her run around the house unattended while he made dinner.

Thankfully she complied and after setting up a small corner of the kitchen for her, Archer got to work on dinner. He decided it was probably for the best to go with something simple since he wasn't sure what her tastebuds were like right now and from what he knew, kids were super-picky about food.

"Hikaru? Do you like curry?"

"I love curry!"

Well, curry it was then. After he pulled out the ingredients from various parts of the kitchen, he began on the prep work. Every now and then he glanced over at her to make sure she hadn't wandered away. Thankfully she was still engrossed in the book she was "reading".

However like all children, that did not keep her occupied for long. She got to her feet and walked over to him. "I wanna cut!"

Archer stared down at her and then at the cutting board. "I'm cutting onions, Hikaru."

"I wanna cut!" She stomped her foot against the ground to show how serious she was about cutting.

Of course she did. He sighed. Based on the way she was stubbornly staring at him, he had a feeling if he said no he would have a tantrum on his hand. "Fine," he replied with a long sigh as he grabbed a plastic knife from a drawer and cut off a piece of the onion for her.

"Yay!" Hikaru ran over to the closet and dragged out a small step-stool which she pushed over to where Archer was. She scrambled onto it and stood next to him proudly.

"So Hikaru," began Archer as she picked up the knife and began contemplating on how to cut the onion in front of her. "Do you know who I am?"

"Archer!" she replied happily.

So she did know his name at least. That was good. At least she had some common sense as a kid and didn't go willingly with a stranger. "Do you know how we met?"

"Dunno!" She held the knife in front of her like a paintbrush.

Did she truly not remember or did five year olds not care about this kind of stuff?

"Hi-ya!" she cried as she attacked the onion with the knife. Two cuts later, with the same intensity, tears were streaming down her face.

"Do you want me to cut it?"

"No!" She continued to cut away at the onion despite the fact that the onion was making her cry.

"And still stubborn as ever…"

After all of the vegetables were prepped and the curry cooked Archer set two plates down at the table with Hikaru's only being a tiny portion. Thankfully she was eating by herself.

"Aren't you going to eat your carrots?" asked Archer when he noticed that she was pushing them around her plate after she had eaten everything else.

"No. Carrots yucky."

"But you love carrots."

Hikaru made a face and shook her head stubbornly. "No carrots! I don't like them!"

"Hikaru," Archer warned.

She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks, "No carrots!"

"You won't get any ice cream for dessert then."

She stared at him with the most horrified look in the world and the down at her carrots and then back at him. She did it a couple more times but Archer did not retract his statement. Instead he continued to eat his curry, making sure to eat all of his carrots. "I guess I'm going to be the only one eating ice cream tonight."

He never knew a child could look so horrified ever. "Ice cream..." she murmured. She picked up her spoon and prodded a piece of carrot a few times before she got it onto her spoon and then into her mouth. Archer watched in amusement as she slowly and very dramatically put carrot pieces into her mouth, made a disgusted face and then swallowed.

"This is not a punishment at all." Archer shook his head. "Stop being so overdramatic."

Hikaru pouted and ignored him while she continued to eat the carrots. Once she was done she put down her spoon and looked up at him smugly. "Done!"

"Yes you are." He got up and took the plates back to the kitchen. He was back a couple minutes later with two bowls of chocolate ice cream.

"Ice cream!" sang Hikaru. She grabbed her spoon and began devouring the cold treat. "Ahhhhh!" she cried, clutching her head.

"That's what you get for eating too fast," he said with a roll of her eyes.

A thud came from the stairs. Archer froze. No way, no way, no way. He got up. _Please no_. He walked into the hallway and saw Nomi stumble down the stairs. She was in her business suit but she was disheveled. Either she had spent time at a bar or had just woken up. Archer was thinking it was probably the latter. She yawned. "Oh, hi Archer." She stretched. "I was wondering where you two where. I got home and the house was empty. I was so tired I ended up taking a nap and then here you are!"

This was bad. Really bad.

"Archer?"

Archer froze and turned around. Hikaru was peeking out of the kitchen doorway in confusion. Ice cream was all over her face. He whirled around to check Nomi's reaction.

It didn't look good. Her eyes were wide as she watched little Hikaru stumble over to Archer and hug his leg.

"Archer," began Nomi.

"I can explain!"

Nomi shook her head and brushed away a fake tear. "How could you and Hikaru keep this from me?"

"Huh?"

"I can't believe you two hid the fact you had a kid from me! I have a great niece and you never told me!? Where were you hiding her!?"

"Hang on!" cried Archer. Hikaru, bored of the talking adults began to wander away but Archer grabbed her arm to prevent her from walking around the house without supervision. "Nomi, this is not-"

Nomi lifted her hand. "No. It's alright. You don't have to make excuses to me. I can understand you guys are young. You people have urges and you two gave into them and a mistake came out of it. A mistake you seem to be taking full responsibility for."

"Nomi. No. No. That is not even possible. I would have to have met Hikaru _years_ ago for that to be even possible! And I haven't by the way," he added quickly at the end.

Nomi didn't seem to hear him. She kneeled as Hikaru stumbled over to her. "Why don't you go wash your face sweetie?"

"Yes Aunt Nomi." Hikaru turned and headed for the bathroom.

"Don't worry. She won't get into any trouble on the way there," said Nomi as Archer watched her go.

"Oh okay." He paused. "Wait…" He glared at Nomi and she just laughed at his expression.

"Oh stop looking at me like that. I just had to milk it for what it was worth. Your face! Your face! It was just perfect!" She was clutching her sides as she laughed. "I just couldn't help myself!" Once her laughing fit subsided, she took a deep breath. "I'm guessing Hikaru got her hands on an age-younger potion?"

"Rin got it. Hikaru was reading the label when she dropped it and well…"

Nomi nodded in understanding. "She's done something like that before too. Her father had to keep all of his potions and such on high shelves to avoid her getting to them. That only worked eighty percent of the time."

Was Hikaru that much of a trouble child? At least she had gotten better when she got older. At least.

"I would go find her now." Nomi stretched, "She's been quiet for a while and it doesn't take this long to wash her face. When a child is quiet…"

Archer groaned and hurried to the bathroom. Hikaru was sitting on the floor in front of it with markers in hand. Thankfully she had not attacked the walls with them. Unfortunately she had attacked herself with them.

"Why am I not surprised?" Archer kneeled next to her and shook his head. She was grinning like she had won the lottery. "Oh no you don't!" He grabbed her arm before she could draw on him.

"You might want to give her a bath," laughed Nomi as she came up behind Archer. "Here she goes, doing the marker thing again. Thankfully those are the washable kind."

"_I _need to give her a bath?" Archer plucked the markers out of her hand before she could do anymore damage.

"Yes. You. I need to catch the next plane out of here. I only came home for a nap."

"Of course you did…" murmured Archer.

"So good luck! Keep her entertained and you'll be fine!"

Archer shook his head as Nomi made a hasty escape. "Well then," he said as he picked up Hikaru. "Come on. Let's get you into the bath."

* * *

Archer never knew taking a bath would be so hard. Hikaru, of course, had to grab all of the shampoo and soap and she had cried a couple of times when the soap got into her eyes. He ended up skipping the usual soak in the tub as he was not going to risk her drowning in it.

"You are more trouble this size than adult," he commented from his spot on her bed.

Hikaru glanced over at him and tilted her head to the side in confusion at his statement before continuing to rummage through her closet. Since Rin had not bought any sleeping clothes, Archer had just grabbed one of Hikaru's t-shirts and knotted it at the bottom so it wasn't too long. Crude but it worked and she wasn't complaining about it.

"Read!" Hikaru walked over to Archer with a picture book in hand. "Storytime!"

"No Hikaru. It's bedtime, not storytime."

She pouted and lifted the book higher. "Story!"

Archer sighed and took the book from her as she scrambled onto the bed with a little difficulty. "One story and you go to sleep okay?" Why did she have a picture book in her closet in the first place?

Hikaru didn't seem to hear him as she sat in his lap. "Ready!" she exclaimed.

Archer opened the picture book and began reading. It was a weird story about a squirrel who was friends with a dog, lion and a wolf. The three animals were trying to get the squirrel's attention to invite her to a local party as a date. In a plot twist, the squirrel ended up going to the party with her friend, a tsundere cat instead.

"This is such a weird story," commented Archer as he closed the book. He stared at the back cover. "No way. There's a book series for these characters!? Hikaru. I really question…" He had to smile as he look down on her. She was fast asleep in his lap. He put the book down and gently picked her up and put her under the covers. "Goodnight Hikaru," he whispered as he kissed her forehead. "Please don't get into any more trouble until morning, alright?"

* * *

The next morning the first thing Archer did was go check on Hikaru. He had been worried that she was going to get into trouble somehow during the night(although a quick call to Nomi told him that she usually slept through the whole night with no problem). He opened her door slowly in case she was still asleep. "Hikaru? Are you up?" he asked softly.

As soon as he saw Hikaru climbing out of bed, he froze. That was no five year old getting up but a seventeen year old. A seventeen year old with a tied up shirt on that was way shorter than it should be.

She stared back at him, blinking slowly as she also seemed to have trouble processing what was going on.

Archer reacted first and slammed the door shut so it was a barrier between them. "Sorry Hikaru! Last night you were a little kid due to the potion Run had and I had to make due with what we had. Rin said it would wear off after some time but I didn't know it would be this fast and I'm sorry." He lightly hit his head a few times to try to remove the image of Hikaru out of his mind.

"No, no. It's okay," came her muffled voice from beyond the door. "I…uh…understand…" He could picture her, red-faced on the other side of the door. He could hear her shuffling around in her room. "Thanks for, uh, taking care of me. I'm not too sure what happened-my memory is a bit fuzzy but thank you."

"It was nothing at all. It was Rin's fault for having something like that lying around in the first place."

"Uh yeah," she giggled. She cracked open the door and peeked up at him. She had untied the shirt and had slipped on a pair of shorts.

"I have to say, I like you much better like this." He pushed open the door and hugged her tight. Yup. He much preferred the older Hikaru.

She giggled and hugged him back. "Was I that bad?"

Archer released her and nodded. "I never thought your ability to get into trouble could be worse than it already is but you proved me wrong."

"Hey!" She puffed out her cheeks. "That's not my fault!"

"I think it is." Archer rolled his eyes. "Anyway, you want breakfast?"

"Maybeeee." She batted her eyelashes at him. "Pancakes?"

He rolled his eyes again. "Fine, fine. Pancakes."

"Yay!" cheered Hikaru as she ran down the stairs with Archer close behind in case she tripped.


	7. Apprentice Part 1

**First of a multi-chapter arc thing. Like with Lotus, I don't know if I will be able to get another chapter out until December due to NaNoWriMo starting in a week. Sorry in advance!**

* * *

"Leo's visiting?"

Hikaru bobbed her head up and down. "Yeah. He called up Rin and told her he would be in Japan for business next week but he is coming a day early. So, us girls thought that we would show him around some fun places in the city and stuff. We're also going to invite Alice so it will be an awesome reunion!" She was bouncing up and down on her heels as she spoke.

Why did she seem so proud at that moment, Archer had no idea. He had just come in after working his shift at a local restaurant and Hikaru had pounced on him just as he was taking off his shoes. "So…you guys have fun."

Hikaru frowned. Obviously what he had said was not what she had expected. "But you should come too Archer! It's a reunion!"

Archer decided not to point out that Shinji had not been invited to this reunion. "Hikaru, really now. It's going to be a meeting of all of the Masters. It would be awkward for..." He sighed. Hikaru was doing the "sparkly-eye" thing as she silently pleaded with him. "When is it?" he relented.

"Sunday. We're going to meet him at the train station and have lots of fun! You can come right? I checked your schedule and you are free on that day…"

Archer rolled his eyes. She got excited for the littlest of things. Heck, she even checked his schedule on top of everything else. Well, there was nothing he could say to her now on that subject. She was set and her stubbornness would not let him back out now. "Did you finish your homework by the way?"

She froze in her excited jumping and looked away. "Maybe…"

He pressed his thumb against his middle finger and held it up. Hikaru covered her forehead with her hands and backed up a few steps.

"Tyrant!" she cried.

"Just go finish it. I'll have dinner ready soon."

"I'll cook tonight," she offered. "You were working all day. And you were cooking too..."

Archer waved her concern away. "Making dinner for us will not kill me. Plus…" He leaned in closer to her face. "You aren't doing this to get out of doing your homework are you?"

She puffed out her cheeks in protest for a couple of seconds before she relaxed and sighed. "Fine," she relented. "Tyrant…" she mumbled under her breath as she turned away.

A yelp escaped her throat as Archer hugged her tight from behind. "Who are you calling a tyrant?" he growled in her ear.

She giggled and tilted her head back so she could look at him. She batted her eyes at him. "I have no idea what you are talking about," she said sweetly.

Damn it. She looked so cute. What was he going to do with her? He lightly kissed her forehead before he released her. "Go do your homework. And I'm not a tyrant."

She took a few steps away from him and then whirled around. "Yes you are!" she exclaimed before she ran for the stairs.

Archer rolled his eyes before heading towards the kitchen. Dinner was not going to start itself.

* * *

"Do you see him?" Alice hopped up and down on her tiptoes.

"No. I do not see any sign of the Harwey prince," stated Rani.

"He probably has his own coach in the back," said Rin as she tapped her foot against the ground impatiently.

"I feel so out of place," sighed Archer.

Hikaru glanced up at her boyfriend and tilted her head slightly in confusion. "How come?" she wondered. "We're all members of the Holy Grail War. I don't see what the problem is."

"I'm the only guy here and the oldest too."

"Well, we weren't going to ask Shinji to come." Hikaru crossed her arms. "He's a big stinky jerk."

"And mean," put in Alice. She shivered and Hikaru put a protective arm around the younger girl.

Archer sighed and shook his head.

"I think I've located the Harwey prince."

Everyone looked in the direction Rani was pointing. Like she said, there was Leo with the same regal air to him as from the War. Unlike last time they had met, he was clad in casual clothes but Hikaru felt like it looked way too off on him. He just did not look right as a tourist.

"I'm surprised he doesn't have bodyguards," commented Rin. "The Harwey family is still prominent in the west. For him to be walking…" She trailed off as a guy in a suit slipped behind a pillar. "I stand corrected."

"Hello everyone," said Leo pleasantly. He smiled. It wasn't fake like how Hikaru remembered from the War but something genuine. A true smile. "Glad to see you are in good health Hikaru. I was happy to learn you have woken up. I'm sorry I could not contact you before."

"That's okay. I know you were busy. Oh and my aunt is really grateful too for helping out."

"It's the least I could do." Leo gave her his dazzling smile. Archer put an arm around Hikaru's shoulders and Hikaru stared at him in confusion. He had his full attention on Leo as he held onto her. This was odd.

Leo didn't seem to feel Archer's stare as he had turned his attention to Rani and Rin. "I've actually had a talk to your professor Rani and he mentioned you as well."

"Oh?" Rani perked up slightly.

"He said you are doing a great job at learning about humans and to keep up the good work here in Japan."

Rani nodded happily. "I will do my best."

"And Rin. We need to get together sometime and make some connections between our houses."

Rin's arms were crossed but she nodded. "We should."

"It's also nice to see you in good spirits Alice."

"You helped make Nee-san better. You aren't a bad person," Alice said happily.

Leo now turned his attention to Archer and gave him a slight nod. Archer nodded back. Hikaru looked back and forth between the two of them, confused. Did a silent conversation pass between them in the span of that nod? What did they "talk" about anyway?

"Well, shall we go?" Rin clapped her hands to draw attention to herself.

"You're going to have a ton of fun!" Alice bounced up and down on her heels. "We planned a bunch of awesome things to do today."

"Great," said Leo with another genuine smile.

All Hikaru could think of was how weird it was to see Leo smiling like a normal person.

"Our first stop is close," informed Rani as the group began walking. Alice led the way as Hikaru fell in step next to Archer.

"Leo has grown since then," Archer stated in a quiet voice.

Hikaru nodded as she watched Leo discuss something magus related with Rin. It was nothing serious as Rin seemed to be in a good mood about it.

"It's great to see him acting like a normal boy, no matter how weird it looks," Hikaru replied back.

The first stop was an arcade. Leo stared at the blinking lights and multitude of sounds in awe. "What is this place?"

"It's a place of recreational enjoyment," stated Rani. "I've come here a couple of times in the past and I have also found it enjoyable."

"I have the highest scores in almost all of the games here." Hikaru puffed out her chest proudly.

"Except that one." Rin pointed to a shooting game near the entrance.

"Don't remind me," groaned Hikaru. She glared at her boyfriend.

"What?" he asked, oh-so-innocently.

"I spent _hours_ trying to get the high score and then you came waltzing in and beat my score on the _first_ try. And to make matters worse, you weren't even trying!"

"I was an Archer class servant. Why are you so surprised?"

Hikaru puffed out her cheeks and looked away. Stupid Archer.

"I would play something easy since it's your first time here," suggested Rin.

"Or you are just unable to understand how the play most of them," Rani put in.

Rin paused and glared at Rani. "Well then," Rin said in a low voice. 'Why don't we test that theory of yours shall we?"

"I agree however I feel like the results will be the same as last time," responded Rani.

Alice, ignorant of all of the building tension, grabbed Leo's hand. "Let's play DDR! It's fun and easy and you'll like it! Nee-san will play too right?" She asked Hikaru.

"Of course! I am a DDR master as well!"

"I'll come too," Archer said. "Someone is going to need to catch you when you trip over your own feet."

"That only happened once!" Hikaru protested as they made their way over to the DDR machines.

* * *

Archer took a sip of his drink as he listened to Alice sing a peppy song. After spending some time in the arcade the group had traveled to a small restaurant for a late lunch before heading to a karaoke place.

"You're up next Nii-san," Alice said cheerfully as she jumped down from the stand and held out the microphone for him to take.

Archer sighed as he took it. He really did not want to sing (Leo wasn't because he didn't know any Japanese songs) but the girls had been insistent and Hikaru had given him her signiture sad puppy dog look so now here he was, standing in front of a bunch of teenagers (and one kid) singing a random song he had heard on the radio.

"There," he stated when the song was over and he sat down next to Hikaru. "You got your one song, happy?"

"You're surprisingly good," commented Rin in a way that made the comment seem like it wasn't a compliment.

Archer ignored her and turned his attention to Hikaru. She had a very sad, depressed look on her face. "Hey, what's wrong? I wasn't that bad right?"

Hikaru shook her head, her bottom lip quivering. "No. You weren't bad. You were good. You're so good that you would be able to get into a boy band. And then…" She sniffled. "And then, you would become the playboy member of the group and then get all the girls while saying random English words and then I will be left all alone because I'm so normal and you won't like me!" she wailed.

Archer blinked slowly as he tried to comprehend what in the world she was talking about. "H..Hikaru?"

She looked away from him and attacked the snacks on the table. No way. She was actually mad at him!? Just for singing well!?

"You're all a pretty funny bunch," Leo said with a small laugh.

"I don't even know what is going on most of the time." He was still wondering if she actually was mad at him. She was eating those cookies rather furiously.

The beginning tune, a mash of guitars and drums, of the next song began to play and Hikaru jumped to her feet. "My turn!" she said cheerfully, her previous bad mood gone. Okay. Maybe she wasn't mad at him?

"Archer, I have a question. Have you gone out with Hikaru to sing karaoke before this?"

Archer shook his head to Rin's question. "We've never had the time."

"I feel sorry for Nii-san then," spoke up Alice. Rani was nodding as well.

What were they talking about? He had heard Hikaru sing in the bath and while she was cooking. She had an okay voice. It wasn't horrible by any means.

He picked up his drink as Hikaru stepped up to the microphone and waited for the vocal part to begin. She took a deep breath and an infernal sound came out of her throat. Archer coughed a couple of times as his drink went down the wrong pipe. Rin leaned over and hit his back a couple of times until he had recovered from the initial shock. He stared at his girlfriend screamed out words that could not have been Japanese. Heck, it didn't even sound like something a human could say.

"Hikaru always goes for the heavy metal songs during karaoke," explained Rani, like it wasn't obvious to Archer.

"Oh my, I didn't know music came in this form. What did you call it? Heavy metal?" Leo wrote down the name in a little notebook. "I must do some research on this music form."

"Alice was shocked the first time as well. Alice thought Nee-san was dying."

Archer didn't doubt it. She was still going with those demonic screams with no sign of stopping."Thank you for putting up with my girlfriend."

"It's Hikaru." Rin shrugged. "You get used to her being crazy."

After what seemed like forever, the last note played and the screaming stopped. Hikaru sighed and hopped down from the stage and took her place next to Archer again and took a long drink of her water.

"Nothing like a good screaming to get all of the stress out!" she said cheerfully.

"And I find another useless talent of yours."

"Hey!" She puffed out her cheeks. "It took me forever to learn how to do that without straining my vocal chords."

He flicked her forehead to show what he thought about her skills.

"Gahhhh! Whhyyyyy!" she whined.

Archer shrugged. "Your pride in such a skill does not seem right."

"Meanie," mumbled Hikaru. She covered her forehead to prevent another attack. She frowned. "Is it really that useless?" she asked quietly.

Archer sighed and lightly kissed her forehead. "No. I find that talent to be fitting of you."

"Aww thank you!" She grinned and gave him a hug.

"Ugh, save that for later you two," said Rin as she got up to sing.

* * *

After hours of singing, the group left the karaoke place all sung out. The streetlights were on and the moon was beginning to rise overhead.

"Dang, we spent a lot longer there than we were planning on it," commented Rin.

"Shall I take you home Alice?" asked Rani. "You are expected home soon right?"

"That would be great," Alice said cheerfully. "Mom is probably wondering where Alice is since Alice is supposed to be home for dinner."

"It was nice hanging out with you two," Leo said.

"It was nice seeing Leo again too!"

"We must have a talk soon if you have some time," stated Rani.

"Yes, we must," nodded Leo.

"I'll see you two again soon!" Hikaru waved goodbye to Rani and Alice as the two headed for the train station.

"Well, I guess we are splitting for the night." Rin threw her hair over her shoulder and waved goodbye. "We'll talk business at a later date Leo."

"Bye Rin! See you in school tomorrow!" Hikaru waved goodbye to her friend as Rin strutted away.

"This was fun. I thank you for giving me a fun day," said Leo, turning his attention to Hikaru.

"No problem Leo," Hikaru said. "It's really funny. I mean, a couple months ago we were trying to kill each other and now we hung out all day and had tons of fun and we weren't trying to kill each other."

"Yes, that is a weird feeling," replied Leo. "But it was fun." His expression darkened. "There was one other reason I agreed to this. I wanted to tell you in person Hikaru."

"What is it?"

Hikaru jumped in surprise. This was the first time Archer had spoken since they had left the karaoke place.

Leo didn't seem surprised that Archer had spoken. "Well, this concerns you as well I would say." He turned his green eyes back to Hikaru. "It is about my brother, Julius."

Hikaru stiffened. Now that Leo seemed to have a better handle on emotions, would he blame her for what happened to Julius? Yes, she was not the one who killed him but it did happen because of her. As if sensing her fear, Archer put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head against him in response.

"Don't worry. I'm not mad at you about it." He shut his eyes and looked down at his casual, but probably very expensive shoes. "I understand that you cannot be blamed for what happened in the War and my brother's actions were incredibly extreme. What he did to Alice was wrong and I am sorry for what he did to you as well."

Hikaru shook her head. "Don't worry about it Leo. It's all in the past now."

Leo nodded and smiled but it wasn't as bright as before. "This is why I admire you Hikaru. You are so different than most people. You were able to move on from the War and not base your future choices and outlook based on what happened in it."

"Well…a good thing came out of it. For me at least." Hikaru looked up at Archer and smiled. "So overall, even with everything bad that happened in the War, where I am now would not have happened without it."

Archer smiled down at her before focusing on Leo again. "What was it you wanted to warn her about?"

Leo's expression darkened. "My brother, before the two of us came to Japan to participate in the War, he was training an apprentice."

Hikaru could feel Archer's grip on her shoulder tighten. "Let me guess. You lost track of this apprentice?" His voice was low. She hadn't heard him talk like this since the War.

"I made sure we kept an eye on her and kept information about the War under wraps however…" He shut his eyes, the rest of it clear.

"You lost her," Archer said softly but Hikaru could hear the tension on his voice. "You let the apprentice of a ruthless assassin _escape_ despite how much power you have in the West."

"Archer," began Hikaru. She rested her hand on his in an attempt to calm him down. He looked like he was going to launch himself at Leo and throttle him.

"Yes. I am ashamed of it as well. I have sent out my best men to try to locate her but with no avail. I'm still searching for her but there is no trace so I had to warn you. I did not give her any information about your involvement but…"

She knew what Leo was not saying. This apprentice of Julius was probably coming after her because it was her fault that Julius was dead. She winced as Archer's grip on her shoulder tightened. Realizing that he was hurting her, he removed his arm from her shoulder.

"Do you have any idea when she would get to Japan? Or how? What does she look like?"

Leo shook his head. "Sadly, I don't know what she looks like. Before she escaped…all of our files on her…"

Hikaru's eyes widen. She was that good?

Archer cursed and looked around like he expected her to strike at any second.

"I'm sorry Hikaru. I'm going to keep trying to find her but…"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it Leo. It isn't your fault."

"You're so nice Hikaru but it is my fault. I didn't think she was going to do anything." He turned to Archer. "Sadly, I never saw a picture of her in person and everyone she has worked with has unfortunately…met their demise."

Archer's hands tightened into fists. She put a hand on one of his fists and he relaxed it enough for her to slip her hand into his. "Thanks for the warning. I'll be careful Leo."

"I'm sorry," repeated Leo.

"Really, it's fine," said Hikaru. "I'll be fine. We'll be alright. Just focus on the business you need to do Leo."

"You are always so kind," repeated Leo. He shut his eyes and opened them again. "I won't give up either. I'll keep trying to find her. Take care of yourself Hikaru." As soon as he finished speaking a limo pulled up. A man in a suit got out and opened the door for Leo. "Would you like a ride home?" he offered.

"No, we can walk," replied Hikaru. "It's more…preferred." She was worried what Archer would do to Leo in a confined space. "We'll keep in touch?"

Leo nodded. "Yes. Let's keep in touch." He was about to step into the limo but he paused and looked back at Hikaru. "I hope I can find her before she finds you."

Hikaru forced a smile onto her face. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Leo shot one final look at Archer before he got into the limo. Hikaru waved goodbye to Leo until the limo was out of sight. She turned to Archer to try to gauge his emotions. Based on the set of his jaw, she could tell he was not happy at all right now.

"It'll be okay Archer," she said softly.

He looked at her and it told her that he didn't believe a word she said. "Hikaru. I _know_ what people like her are like. She will not stop; she will do everything to get to you."

She bit her lip. He was probably thinking of the time when he was alive, well alive before. She didn't doubt that he knew people like that. "I'm stronger now too Archer. Don't worry. It won't be like with Julius." As soon as the words left her mouth, she could tell that was the wrong thing to say. She winced at his expression.

"Okay. I'm not that strong but I am better than back then. I've been practicing." She shook her head. Ugh. This was not working. "Anyway, what I mean is, we don't even know if she is in Japan or if she is even after me. We can't worry about that Archer." She put both of her hands in his and stared up at him. "Please Archer. We can't worry about it. We can't worry about something that's like the War again. It'll be fine. Leo will take care of everything!"

Based on his expression she knew he didn't believe her. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her close to him in a tight hug. "Archer?" she squeaked. They were in public and he was hugging her so tight. "People are staring!" She wiggled in his grasp. This was so embarrassing!

"I won't let her touch you. If she tries to come here, I will stop her," he whispered into her ear. "You will be safe."

She stopped struggling, lifted her arms and tightly hugged him back and buried her face into his shoulder as she understood. "I'll be fine," she whispered. "Everything will be fine."

He released her and she stepped back. Her face started to burn when she realized there was a lot of people around them and a bunch were staring. "Umm, let's go home?" she suggested.

"Yeah, let's go home," he agreed, also feeling uncomfortable by the stares.

Archer took her hand into his again as the two headed back home. Not able to help herself, Hikaru checked behind her a few times in case an assassin was waiting in the shadows.


End file.
